Toadsteel
many-capped spore-thrower of the fungal warband
Toadsteel — The Encounter
many-capped spore-thrower of the fungal warband · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Toadsteel
The Toadsteel is the fungal host's thrower, a lanky pillar of stacked caps that rains poison spore from behind the front rank. Its long tendril arms keep foes at a distance while its crowded crown of caps quivers at every footfall, so little surprises it. Where the Mycelions hold and the Mosskels flank, the Toadsteel softens, sickening clustered enemies before the heavier caps wade in. Grove-lore calls it the lamp-tree of the colony, for the way it stands over the battle dripping its sour mist. Wound it up close and its caps burst back at you. It cannot lead and cannot hold, but a warband without its spray fights half-blind into a wall of choking dust.
Run Toadsteel in Sixty Seconds
- Open with Spore Spray then poison the tightest cluster of enemies.
- Hold the back rank then keep tendril reach between you and the foe.
- When approached then Bursting Spores makes hitting it hurt.
- Stay screened then let the heavy caps keep melee off you.
Toadsteel
Large plant, neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINECrown of Caps. The Toadsteel's many small caps let it sense vibration. It has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and on initiative rolls.
Bursting Spores. When the Toadsteel takes damage from a creature within 10 feet, that creature must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution save or take 3 (1d6) poison damage as caps rupture toward it.
Actions
Multiattack. The Toadsteel makes one Tendril Lash attack and uses Spore Spray if available.
Tendril Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10+2) bludgeoning damage.
Spore Spray. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d6) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution save or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
A tall, narrow stalk crowned with a thicket of small caps and dangling tendrils, lobbing bursts of poison spore over the heads of the warband's brawlers.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Stand behind the line and open with Spore Spray on the tightest cluster. Keep foes at tendril range, and let Bursting Spores punish anyone who closes. It is artillery, not a brawler.
Post it behind the warband and spray the densest knot of enemies each round. Let Mycelions screen it while Sporelarks herd foes into its poison; never let it get caught in melee alone.
Fight as the warband's rear-rank spore battery. Stay screened, rain poison on grouped targets, and rupture into anyone who reaches it. Solo it is helpless, so keep the colony between it and the enemy.
Put Toadsteel on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Toadsteel?
Toadsteel is CR 2 (450 XP) at native Tier 1. Use AC 15 / ~115 HP for Tier 2 or AC 17 / ~187 HP for Tier 3; the traits stay constant and only the numbers move.
How does Toadsteel fight alongside the rest of the Shroomkin?
It is the artillery. The Toadsteel sits behind the line and sprays poison into clustered foes while Mycelions screen and flankers exploit the sickened. It softens targets for the whole warband.
Is Toadsteel a solo threat?
No. It is a fragile ranged support with no legendary actions and collapses in melee. Keep it behind the colony's bodies.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Played Toadsteel at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
Log in to comment